With four regulation losses in their last seven, Boston coach Claude Julien admitted today that the Bruins are “fighting to find our game right now.”

Julien also told reporters that the B’s “need to be angry at ourselves” going into tonight’s home game with the Maple Leafs.

Boston lost to the Leafs at the Air Canada Centre, 3-2, on Saturday — the first time the Bruins had fallen to Toronto since March 31, 2011.

To their credit, the Bruins outshot the Leafs 33-13, but a 3-0 deficit in goals was too much to overcome.

“It wasn’t there for the first 40 (minutes),” Boston defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said. “But when we did get desperate you see how we can play. It doesn’t really help playing that way when you’re down 3-0. We got to start playing that way at the beginning of the game.”

If the Bruins are true to their word, the Leafs may have to weather the storm early tonight.

Boston has won four straight at home — a streak that started March 7 with a 4-2 victory over the Leafs.

Start’s with Lucic NOT being on 1st line. TURNOVER Machine so far this season, major under achieving from this guy ! Looks slow and has almost no touch with the puck……

tlndma - Mar 25, 2013 at 12:06 PM

You’re correct. Lucic just seems to “show up” about once every 10 games. He can be such a force, when he comes to play. You have to wonder if the Bs would entertain offers for him. Not a guy you want to give up on but, this is not a new problem with him. With the demotion to the 3rd line, the message has been sent by Julien to him. How he responds just might determine his future.

I think trade talk concerning Lucic is absurd. He scored 26 goals last year and 30 the year before, with more assists than goals in both years. These aren’t Hart Trophy numbers, sure, but they show he was a tremendous value to his team. And he’s only 24. Let’s see how he responds, particularly if the distractions that ballistictrajectory brings up below are true.

ballistictrajectory - Mar 25, 2013 at 12:50 PM

I agree on the underperformance part, but there may be mitigating circumstances:

1) New infant. Has to be a drain on the energy.
2) The comment made on his sudden return to Boston from Winnipeg, “… everyone’s home safe…” might indicate some other events taking place that are proving to be a distraction.
3) The guy gets 2, 5 and 10 for looking sideways at the puck.

Granted, the “pass to nowhere” the other night should have never happened. That ruined what could have been a great scoring chance. I’ll assign that to 1 or 2 above.

He’s definitely keeping his head down with regard to the refs. That is making him underproductive.

All told, that entire line needs to step up. Krecji has coughed it up just as often as Lucic, and Horton seems to be out of sync with time itself, he’s either there too late or way too early.

Very true. He could very well be distracted, and maybe isn’t compartmentalizing as he needs to. Doesn’t help that Krecji is playing with a heavy bruise on his knee. And yet, Lucic does pick up penalties a lot, but he really earns them for the most part–he often takes the goading bait and swings at other players, and then he barks and runs his mouth all the way to the box…only to (rather often) leave the box for 10 minutes due to an unsportsmanlike he pick up on his way there.

Lucic has been one of my favorite players and has perfectly exemplified Bruins hockey, but this year he simply hasn’t been himself.

It took Joe Thornton I forget how many seasons before he brought his regular season play into the post season. And now that he has, it still doesn’t matter: the Sharks fail to get it done year after year.

Outside of picking up outside talent (btw, the asking price for Iginla is outrageous and would perhaps have been viable 5 years ago), this is really all Julien can do. Lucic absolutely needed to be demoted. But Lucic-Peverley-Pandolfo? May as well call that the Vomit Line right now. And they promoted Marchand but I’m quite concerned about that because the Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin line has been by far the most productive on the team. I hope Paille fits in ok–he’s going to have to work his ass off.

mp1131211 - Mar 25, 2013 at 2:35 PM

Anger is the last thing the bruins need more of. Say it with me Julien, “I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And goddonnit! People like me!”

our mom spread her legs in Boston sooo we seem to think that our dad is a bruins fan. he never even tried to contact us but It doesnt bother me, my brother cant let it go. I luv you dad where ever you are.

Yes, our mom made a lot of mistakes in her personal life. The worst was having sex with a goat. The offspring ended up being Jack Edwards, the Bruin play-by-play announcer.

ktboston - Mar 25, 2013 at 6:43 PM

That must be a huge spoked B on your sister jersey!

dboldave - Mar 25, 2013 at 6:51 PM

I love that people hate the Bruins so much! Honestly, I wish they were more on the edge than they are though. I’d love it if Chara played more like Scott Stevens and Chris Pronger and intimidated the hell out of everyone. THAT would make me happier!